Dracunculus medinensis 1

Dracunculus medinensis: The Most Cunning Parasite from an Immunological Perspective

By: Tiffany Walsh

November 29, 2005

Class: Immunology

Professor: Dr. N Demers

Dracunculus medinensis 2

Abstract

It is well known that our skin helps to protect us from our environment. What

happens when it is used to get rid of a foreign body unnaturally? This paper discusses

how this could happen by way of a parasite called Dracunculus medinensis, and the

process by which it occurs. Parasites have been known and documented for thousands of

years. Some historians and scientists believe that the Bible makes mention of it. They

have even been found in Egyptian mummies. The life cycle of Dracunculus medinensis

consists of six developmental stages, which takes a year to complete. The female pushes

her way to the surface of the skin, which breaks open to expel her larvae. This is where

the beginning of the host’s immune system starts to respond. An inflammatory reaction

occurs that causes severe pain and crippling effects for months and can sometimes

become permanent, depending on where the worm emerges. This, although is not the

interesting part, the skin is just trying to help rid the foreign body by the only way it can

expel it from the body. How the body allowed the organism to stay and grow for a year

without any recognition is fascinating part. Dracunculus medinensis down regulates the

host’s immune response, they adapt very quickly to what the host’s body throws at them.

The worm can even use what the body sends out to locate them to there advantage by

disguising themselves as part of the host’s body, or using the antibodies as a food source.

These worms are not well understood, and research is ongoing to try to find answers to

how this worm is so crafty. Dracunculus medinensis has a few thousand years on those

researchers.

Dracunculus medinensis 3

Introduction

Parasites are beings that include unicellular protozoa and multicellular

invertebrates. Most parasites are much larger than any microbial pathogen. Parasites

have been known for thousands of years, even before the creatures acquired their name

from the Greeks, parasitos, which means "beside food". At some point in time, the word

came to mean a scrounger, someone who could get the occasional meal from a nobleman

by pleasing him. Eventually the parasite became a standard character in Greek comedy,

with his own mask. Many centuries later, the term would cross over to biology, to define

life that drains other lives from within. However, the Greeks already knew of biological

parasites, as did others elsewhere in the world. “The ancient Egyptians and Chinese

prescribed different sorts of plants to destroy worms that lived in the gut. The Koran told

believers to stay away from pigs and from stagnant water, both sources of parasites”

(Watts, S. (1998). An ancient scourge: The end of dracunculiasis in Egypt. Social

science & medicine), 46(7), 811-819.

There is even thoughts that the Bible makes mention of a parasite the

Dracunculus medinensis, also known as medina worm, dragon worm, the guinea worm,

and the fiery serpent (Mosby,513), in relation to the Israelites on their journey back from

Egypt: "And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and

much people of Israel died... and the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Make thee a fiery serpent

and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass that everyone that is bitten, when he

looketh upon it, shall live’" (NUMBERS 21:6, Bible).

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Some parasitologists feel these worms are the ‘fiery serpents’ mentioned above

because they “cause fiery pain, they were and still are an epidemic in the area, droughts

were common which could have made most, if not all the people infected with the worm”

(http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/topics/guinea_worms.html). It is also placed on

a pole or stick to have it removed, because if it is pulled out and breaks serious infections

can occur, including sepsis, which is a life threatening disease.

These particular parasites, Dracunculus medinensis, have harassed humankind for

thousands of years in the tropical regions of Asia and Africa. They have even reached as

far as the West Indies and tropical South America. Long ago, someone figured out that

these animals could not be pulled out of the body because the worm would break into

pieces and the remnant inside the body would die and cause a fatal infection. The cure

for guinea worm was, and still is, to slowly wind the worm once it has emerged from the

body onto a stick to keep it alive until it had crawled free. “Many believe that this ‘cure’

is remembered as the symbol of medicine, known as the caduceus: two serpents wound

around a staff” (http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html).

Fig. 1 The medical Caduceus

Many scientists have helped to identify parasites as a species. One of the first

people to study microscopic parasites was Anton van Leeuwenhoek. “In 1673, he put a

few drops of old rainwater under a self made microscope and saw for the first time ‘life’

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(living organisms)” (Campbell, N., Reece, J., pg.4) . He studied many things under the

microscope, including things off his own body. He later realized that his body was home

to microscopic parasites. According to Carl Zimmer, another scientist, a zoologist,

Johann Steenstrup performed experiments in the 1830s with the fluke parasites to

theorize that the adult flukes laid eggs, which escaped out of their hosts and landed in

water, where they hatched into a slightly different looking form covered in fine hairs.

These forms sought out other organisms. The parasite transformed itself again. Once

inside this form grew and rejuvenated. This generation made the flukes. Steenstrup was

the first to grasp that parasites can live in a certain stage in development for much longer

than anything scientists had seen to date (http://www.carlzimmer.com/parasite_2.html).

In 1905, a scientist by the name of “Robert Leiper established the life cycle of the guinea

worm while working in the capital of Ghana, Accra”

(http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/chronology.html).

Morphology

Parasites often create long-term infections in humans. The infections can last

because they have the capability of hiding and avoiding the human immune system.

Dracunculus medinensis belongs to the nematode parasite family Dracunculoidea of the

order Spirurida, from the Secernentea class. Most spirurids are tissue parasites and

produce eggs containing larvae, which have need of arthropod intermediate hosts. The

life cycle of the worm consists of six developmental stages, which are pictured below:

Dracunculus medinensis 6

Fig. 2 The Life Cycle of the Dracunculus medinensis. Compliments of the CDC.

The first step on figure 2 shows that copepods have been infected with larvae and

for further development of the larva, the host copepod needs to be ingested in drinking

water obtained from ponds or open wells. The people become infected when they drink

the water-containing microcrustaceans (water fleas) that harbor the infective larvae.

Once in the human body, the ingested copepod is destroyed by stomach acids and the

larvae are free to penetrate the gut lining and migrate through the intestinal wall, across

the peritoneal cavity, to subcutaneous tissues via the lymphatics. The larvae are not

destroyed because they can quickly adapt to the change in pH of stomach acid.

Researchers are still uncertain to the specifics of how this is done, but some believe that it

is triggered by the copepod’s response to the changing conditions. Step 2 gives a visual

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of the larvae being released and it shows that they begin to grow and mature. The third

step takes the most time. A mature female D. medinensis is one of the longest

nematodes, measuring up to 100 cm (2-3 feet), but is only 1 to 2 mm thick. A mature

male is quite smaller and lives for only a few months. The sexually mature males and

females meet and mate in about 100 days, while they are both of comparable size. The

males stay in the tissues, and within a few months become encapsulated, and die. As the

female matures, she slowly moves down the muscle planes of the infected host and by

approximately 10 months, has grown to maturity, with the uterus being filled with larvae.

After a year from initial infection the female worm travels from the subcutaneous

connective tissues, moves to the surface of the skin, dies by the body erupting, the uterus

is extrude through the mouth, and releases millions of juveniles in a milky white liquid.

Fig. 3. Foot submerged in water to release the larvae. Photo: The Carter Center/S.

Fitzgerald

Figure 2 step four is where the diagnosis of the disease. Up until this point, there are no

symptoms that the human host has been carrying a parasite. The hosts immune system

recognizes these juveniles and causes an intense allergic reaction and extreme discomfort

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(hence the name, the fiery serpent). This reaction provokes the formation of a painful

blister, which bursts into an ulcer, causing the anterior end of the worm to be exposed. If

the affected portion of the body (usually the foot or leg) is cooled by immersion in water,

the milky white liquid that contains the first-stage larvae is expelled and contaminates the

water. These larvae measure 643 (490 to 737) by 23 (18 to 24) µm with a pointed tail and

a fully formed gut, although they do not feed. They move actively in the water,

resembling a free-living nematode, and can live for a few days in water, until a copepod

recognizes the movement as food. The fifth step shows how the larvae are expelled from

the foot and the copepods consume them. The last step completes the cycle. For the

larvae to continue to develop further they need to be ingested by suitable predatory

species of copepods, measuring 1 to 2 mm. Besides these copepods, there is no known

animal reservoir of infection (even though this has not been conclusively disproved),

which makes eradication much more probable if safe drinking water can be ensured. .

“Larvae develop to the infective third stage in the body cavity of the crustaceans in about

14 days at 26°C, which completes the life cycle” (Cairncross, S., et al. (2002). American

Society for Microbiology : Dracunculiasis .15 (2) p. 223-246).

The human host of this ‘guinea worm’ usually remains asymptomatic for about 1

year after they were infected, at which time the mature female worm approaches the skin

and forms a small round protuberance on the skin by secreting an irritating chemical.

The immune system of the host finally recognizes the parasite as foreign and causes an

allergic reaction. This is seen as the cardinal signs of infection (heat, redness, swelling,

and pain) and is at the site of the worm’s location on the skin. The pain that is associated

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with this inflammatory reaction is often intense, so much so, that the worm received the

alias of ‘fiery serpent’. The nodule forms a blister, which is accompanied by redness, a

minor fever, and a rash with severe itching. The systemic symptoms include nausea,

vomiting, diarrhea and dizziness. These symptoms can last for several days while the

blister enlarges and ruptures to expose the adult worm. The pain and systemic symptoms

begin to diminish with the rupture of the blister, and the worm usually is manually forced

out by slowly winding it onto a stick over several weeks to months.

Fig. 4: The blister that is induced by the female guinea worm in a person with dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease).  

Fig. 5: Guinea worm emerging from foot ulcer. Photo: The Carter Center / S. Fitzgerald

  According to Canadian Medical Association Journal, 90% of these worms emerge

from the lower extremities, and many people have more than one at a time emerging (1.8

per person on average), and one individual was reported to have 14. Complications of

this disease, Dracunculiasis, are from secondary infections of the ulcer. Most of these

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types of infections could be prevented, but due to the lack of effective drugs where the

disease is prominent, they are more common. The wound site can cause things like local

cellulitis, abscess formation, tetanus, septic arthritis (mainly when the worm was in the

joints) or systemic sepsis (which is life threatening). As much as 1 in 4 people continue

with pain a year after the worm was extracted, and an average of .5% with permanent

physical damage. When D. medinensis does not make it to the lower extremities they

occasionally end up in abnormal locations such as the pancreas, lung, periorbital tissue,

testes, pericardium and the spinal cord. These worms cause a local compression that

usually forms an abscess. One of the worst things about this disease is that there is little

to no acquired immunity for this disease, so a person can have Dracunculiasis (GWD)

several times during the course of their life (Greenway, 495).

There are no medications available to end or prevent infection of Dracunculus

medinensis; however, the worm can be surgically removed before an ulcer forms.

Analgesics, such as aspirin or ibuprofen, and hydrocortisone, can help reduce swelling by

subduing the host’s immune response to the parasitic allergen. Antibiotic ointments can

help prevent bacterial infections, and are used in combination as an anti-inflammatory

agent or as a possible antiparsitic agent. Greenway also mentions Mebendazole, which is

used sometimes to act on the worm and as an anti-inflammatory agent has been

associated with unusual migration of worms, which were more likely than the standard to

emerge in places other than the lower limbs. Most of the diagnosis is done outside of a

lab. Dracunculiasis is so common clinicians do not feel the need to have a laboratory

(even if there was one). The fact that there is no serological test available also makes it

easier to decide that there is no lab needed. Greenaway, C. (2004). Dracunculiasis

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(guinea worm disease). CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association journal 170(4) 495-500).

IMMUNOLOGY

Dracunculiasis is unusual even among other parasites because there is little

evidence of acquired immunity. One cannot be detected even by most standard tests

(blood and skin biopsy) until after the blister has ruptured. Little testing has been done

with live specimens because these parasites are only found in humans. This organism

hides for a year and travels right through the center of the host’s defense, the lymphatics,

and yet the body does not recognize it. So, how does this cunning parasite get by

unnoticed for over a year, in a well-organized defense system? The remainder of this

paper is dedicated to locating this particular answer.

In order to understand how the parasites conceal themselves, let us first look at

how the human immune system reacts to parasites that it does recognize (eventually).

The main function of the immune system is to make sure that any foreign object in the

body is destroyed. Most of the symptoms arising from parasite infection are due to the

interactions between the immune system and the parasite. There are two main methods

by which the immune system tries to rid the body of the parasite. First an inflammatory

response when esinophils, basophils, and other specialized granular cells rush to the

scene and release their stores of toxic chemicals in an attempt to destroy the invader.

Then, B-cells of the immune system make antibodies specifically against the parasite.

Antibodies are molecules that can attach to a foreign organism and act like a signal flare,

and tell the rest of the immune cells that this organism is foreign and should be destroyed.

Dracunculus medinensis 12

There are also other immune cells, called phagocytes, which travel around the body

eating anything that is not recognized as belonging to that body. These cells are much

more effective at destroying the worms that are labeled by antibodies.

Second, there are proteins in the body that are able to recognize some general

characteristics. These proteins make up the complement system. The complement

proteins are able to attach to the worm and also act as signal flares to attract other

immune cells that can destroy it. However, these proteins are rarely able to kill them by

forming a membrane attack complex.

The interaction between the immune system and the worm is quite amazing. The

immune system is seeking to find and destroy the parasite, while the parasite is

attempting to stay hidden and alive. One way that they “hide” from the immune system

is by degrading the antibodies that attach to them. There is some evidence that the

antibodies are used as a food source, and that the worms are able to trigger the immune

system to make more antibodies. They can even disguise themselves as part of the host’s

body by displaying different proteins on their surfaces that identify them as part of the

host.

Along with hiding from the immune system, these parasites are able to prevent the

immune cells from killing them by using several strategies. They can prevent the

complement proteins from attaching to their surfaces. They can even release molecules

that act as decoys, telling the killer proteins to leave them alone. They are able release

other proteins that are able to protect them from being eaten, although how exactly this is

accomplished is still unknown. There is some evidence that these proteins are able to

Dracunculus medinensis 13

prevent phagocytes from accurately targeting them. One of the ways that phagocytes are

able to go to the right place in the body during an infection is by following a chemical

trail. The trail is produced by other immune cells from the site of infection. Some of the

proteins released by the worms are able to make it unclear so that the phagocytes become

lost on their way to the infection site.

Nematodes usually infect the digestive system, but a large percent of these

infections are asymptomatic, signifying that these worms are able to down regulate the

host’s immune response against them. They stir up very little immune response despite

their size and use a variety of tactics for immune evasion. A number of strategies of

immune evasion have been documented that show they have an adaptive response as well

as being very good at protecting themselves. The worm also may make use of a variety

of immune elusion tactics during the course of its live. A number of studies were done to

help determine how Dracunculus medinensis use a variety of immune elusion tactics

during the course of their lives.

One study was done using several parasites including Dracunculus medinensis to

see if the immune evasion techniques of these nematodes had the presence of opiates and

the effects of opiates about immune evasion during these infections. The analysis on the

adult guinea worm confirmed there were morphine and its active opiate, alkaloid

metabolite morphine-6-glucoronide (M6G). These immune suppressive substances could

be used by Dracunculus medinensis for immune evasion, by releasing the opiate

chemical that would give the lack of immune response to the living host. Morphine from

parasitic nematodes causes immune cell inactivation, and when the worm recognized the

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immune cells it is triggered to produce the morphine. This is an example of how this

parasite is thought to suppress the immune system (Zhu, W., et al. (2002). Dracunculus

medinensis and Schistosoma mansoni contain opiate alkaloids . Annals of Tropical

Medicine and Parasitology. 96(3) pp. 309-316).

Another study used the serum antibody response (total, and isotypes IgG1, IgG4,

IgM, IgA and IgE) to Guinea worm infection. They used the ELISA and Western blot

test. Sera were obtained early and late in the peak transmission period, from persons with

signs of the disease and after the infections had cleared. Sera from persons living in the

Guinea worm endemic area reacted extensively with Guinea worm antigen in both tests,

and large numbers of bands were produced in the Western blots (up to 35 identified for

some sera). For most antibody isotypes, the ELISA absorbance values obtained with sera

from the same individuals varied between the two transmission seasons, with the highest

titers present towards the end of the peak transmission period. Persons from the endemic

area, who claimed never to experience patent infections, also had antibodies to Guinea

worm, although at significantly lower levels than for those that had the disease. The

highest specificity in the ELISA and the most homogenous Western blots were obtained

when detecting for antibodies of the IgG4 isotype. This study showed that once

symptoms began there was a high antibody response, and those that never contracted the

disease had some antibodies present. This study shows that these parasites use antigenic

cloaking, so that there is not an antibody response until the larvae are ready to be

released. Antigenic cloaking is when the Dracunculus medinensis binds the host’s

proteins to its surface so that the host’s immune system will identify it as self. This study

supports this theory because when the parasite first enters the host it is hidden from the

Dracunculus medinensis 15

immune system completely and as time progresses the body starts to realize what is going

on, and although the worm is very good at cloaking itself, it starts to breakdown. The

results of this test show that there is some detection of immunoglobulin G4 who

eventually had symptoms of infection Bloch, P., Simonsen, P.E. (1998). Studies on

Immunodiagnosis of Dracunculiasis. Detection of specific serum antibodies. Acta

Tropica 70(1) pg. 73-86).

In the journal, Autoimmunity / Allergy and hypersensitivity, it mentions our

immune response often does more harm than good with these and other parasites. As the

immune system response gains strength and the most common symptoms become

obvious. This happens when immunoglobulin E (IgE) binds to Fc receptors on the

surface of mast cells which results in a strong inflammatory response. The inflammatory

mediators released by mast cells, basophils, and Eosinophils cause the contraction of

smooth muscle surrounding the airways and the gut. In addition to violent muscular

contractions that can expel parasites from the airways or gut, the increased local blood

flow can help to flush parasites out. The combined actions of IgE, mast cells, basophils,

and esinophils serve to remove from the body. Eosinophils can also use their FcE

receptors to act directly against multicellular parasites. Phagocytes cannot ingest the

worm because the organism is much larger than a large number of phagocytes. When the

parasite induces an antibody response and becomes coated with IgE, activated

eosinophils will bind to it through FcRI and then pour the toxic contents of their

granules directly onto its surface.

Dracunculus medinensis 16

For humans who rarely encounter parasites, the mast cell’s response is most

frequently seen as a disadvantage, because its triggers allergies and asthma. This is part

of the Hygiene Hypothesis. People with these conditions make IgE in response to

relatively harmless substances called allergens. Some have very specific IgE, and can

lead to massive mast-cell degranulation, which can lead to anaphylaxis (Capron, M.,

Kinet, J. (2005). Infections and allergy-helminthes, hygiene and host immune regulation.

Autoimmunity / Allergy and hypersensitivity. 17(6) pp. 656-661).

CONCLUSION

There is still much to learn about the Dracunculus medinensis and other parasites.

We still do not have a cure, just medicine to help the symptoms. The best way to manage

this disease is to educate those that have the potential to become infected.

Since 1980 when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started this

eradication effort there has been great success. Although the disease is not completely

gone, most cases are in southern Sudan, where a civil war has been taking place for 20

years and an effective program has not been established. Greenaway, C. (2004).

Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease). CMAJ: Canadian Medical Association journal

170(4) 495-500.

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FIG.6: Decline in guinea worm cases from 1985 to 1993 in parts of India. Information

provided by UNICEF.

This disease is serious because of the complications that arise from it, as well as,

the economic impact that it has on the villagers. Many of those who suffered from the

disease still have difficulty performing regular duties a year after the emergence of the

worm. When these people are unable to function the village is at a loss. The economic

impact can be devastating, especially if many members of the community are affected.

Some villages in past years have had to close down schools for weeks to a month because

so many of the children were incapacitated by Dracunculus medinensis.

Infection can easily be avoided by using only water that has been filtered or

obtained from a safe source. Water can be boiled, filtered through tightly woven nylon

Dracunculus medinensis 18

cloth, or treated with a larvae-killing chemical. “People with open wounds should not

enter any water sources. With this worldwide effort and widespread education to those

that are in areas that are affected, this disease could be the next eradicated”

Aikhomu, ,S.E., Brieger, ,W.R., & Kale, ,O.O. (2000). Acceptance and use of communal

filtration units in guinea worm eradication. Tropical medicine & international

health.5(1) 47-52.

Fig.7: A Togolese woman strains her family's drinking water through a cloth filter to prevent them from contracting guinea worm disease. Photo: The Carter Center / Emily Howard 

Fig.8: A young man with guinea worm disease receives education on the life cycle of the guinea worm and how to prevent contamination of drinking-water sources. Photo: The Carter Center / Emily Howard

Dracunculus medinensis 19

Work Cited

Life Cycle.http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/chronology.html

Steenstrup.http://www.carlzimmer.com/parasite_2.html

Caduceus.http://drblayney.com/Asclepius.html

Guinea worm.http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/topics/guinea_worms.html

Dracunculiasis. http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dpd/parasites/guineaworm/

factsht_guineaworm.htm

Dracunculus medinensis: The guinea

worm.http://math.smith.edu/~sawlab/fgn/pnb/dracmed.html

Guinea worm disease.http://www.astdhpphe.org/infect/guinea.html

Guinea worm disease (dracunculiasis).http://www.childinfo.org/eddb/gw/index.htm

Infectious disease report.http://www.who.int/infectious-disease-report/

Dracunculus medinensis 20

Parasites of vertebrates- Dracunculus

medinensis.http://ucdnema.ucdavis.edu/imagemap/nemmap/Ent156html/nemas/

dracunculus medinensis

The disease dracunculiasis.http://www.who.int/ctd/dracun/disease.htm

Aikhomu, ,S.E., Brieger, ,W.R., & Kale, ,O.O. (2000). Acceptance and use of communal

filtration units in guinea worm eradication. Tropical medicine & international health.:

5(1) 47-52.

Aminu, ,S.R., Yawe, ,T., & Tahir, ,A. (2001). Ureteric fibrosis: A complication of

guinea worm infestation of the retroperitoneum. Tropical doctor, 31(2) 111-112.

Bloch, P., Simonsen, P.E. (1998). Studies on Immunodiagnosis of Dracunculiasis.

Detection of specific serum antibodies. Acta Tropica 70(1) pg. 73-86).

Cairncross, S., et al. (2002). American Society for Microbiology : Dracunculiasis .15(2) p.

223-246.

Campbell, N., Reece, J. (2002). Biology. (Sixth ed.) San Francisco: Benjamin

Cummings.

Capron, M., Kinet, J. (2005). Infections and allergy-helminthes, hygiene and host

immune regulation. Autoimmunity / Allergy and hypersensitivity. 17(6) pp. 656-661.

Dracunculus medinensis 21

Chippaux, ,J.P., & Massougbodji, ,A. (1991)Epidemiological aspects of dracunculosis,

84(4) 351-357.

Greenaway, ,C. (2004). Dracunculiasis (guinea worm disease). CMAJ : Canadian

Medical Association journal 170(4) 495-500.

Hours, ,M., & Cairncross, ,S. (1994). Long-term disability due to guinea worm disease.

Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 88(5) 559-560.

Magnussen., P., Yakubu. ,A., & Bloch. ,P. (1994). The effect of antibiotic- and

hydrocortisone-containing ointments in preventing secondary infections in guinea worm

disease. The American journal of tropical medicine and hygiene, 51(6) 797-799.

Mosby. (1998). In Mosby’s Dictionary. (Fifth ed.) p.513) St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

Watts, ,S. (1998). An ancient scourge: The end of dracunculiasis in Egypt. Social science

& medicine, 46(7) 811-819.

Zhu, W., et al. (2002). Dracunculus medinensis and Schistosoma mansoni contain opiate

alkaloids . Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology. 96(3) pp. 309-316.